Shake Shack's founder is making the Apple Watch relevant to the hospitality industry

NYC restaurateur, Shake Shack founder, and millionaire Danny Meyer is having a good week. He's invested in a home-cooked food delivery start-up, introduced paid parental leave for all of his employees, and today almost single-handedly made the Apple Watch — a very expensive trophy gadget at best — relevant. In an announcement made moments ago at the TechTable Summit, representatives from Meyer's Union Square Hospitality Group and Resy — the reservation system start-up founded by Eater co-founder Ben Leventhal, Michael Montero, and Gary Vaynerchuk — confirmed a partnership that would integrate the Apple Watch into front-of-house restaurant service. When Meyer's 30-year-old Union Square Cafe reopens in Manhattan next month, every floor manager and sommelier will be wearing an Apple Watch. And when a VIP walks through the front door, someone orders a bottle of wine, a new table is seated, a guest waits too long to order her or his drink, or a menu item runs out, every manager will get an alert via the tiny computer attached to their wrist.